Whitekit's Promise
by Caitlynbug1
Summary: Cherrytail says that when her sister was born, she yowled at Ivycloud, their medicine cat, like a Tigerclan cat. When Ivycloud tells her that he thinks her sister is part of a prophecy, she doesn't believe him. Ivycloud slowly goes mad trying to figure out that so called prophecy and threatens to kill her sister so he can take her place. Whitekit promises that she WILL protect her.
1. Chapter 1

**Prologue**

"That's good. You are doing fine." A sleek tabby tom purred in encouragement. He was hunched over a queen in distress as she was giving birth to her first litter of kits. Cherrytail, a strawberry she-cat with white specks all over had already given birth to two kits. A little female and a male who were mewling in protest as his apprentice was licking them dry. "Stripepaw, lick their fur the wrong way. It helps dry them faster and it fluffs up their fur so they stay warm." Stripepaw looked up and then resumed what she was doing the correct way. The little she-cat was small and frail as a kit so she decided to keep to the medicine cat's den instead of trying to bug the warriors if they could teach her some fighting moves. Her striped brown tail swished around in concentration.

"Ivycloud, is she going to be alright? It's already been so long." Asked a worried jet black queen. Her one white paw was pushing a wet ball of moss towards Cherrytail's mouth. His green eyes settled on the queen, his gray tail tip twitching.

"Of course Moonfoot. Just one more now. Why don't you go and keep those two warm? I need Stripepaw to come see to she can learn how to help queens giving birth before and after." Moonfoot stood and padded over to the two mewling kits. Wrapping herself around them she carefully laid down and flicked her tail over the backs of the little ones. "Ok Stripepaw, place your paws here." Ivycloud flicked his tail over the queen's belly showing his apprentice where. "Alright. Not, tell me how much longer until this last one comes."

She closed her eyes in concentration then flicked them open again. "Not long!"

"Thats good." He turned his gaze back Cherrytail as the queen yowled one last time, pushing with all of her might, and a little kit slid onto the mossy bed. Ivycloud quickly started licking the small thing. His spirits dropped when he noticed how weak the kit was. He put his ear up next to the small kit's mouth and listened. Shock hit him as he found out the kit wasn't breathing. _No! It can't die after it's mother went through so much!_ He thought starting to panic. Even though he had done this before, Ivycloud was still terrified. Trying to save a kit and then not being able to. It's mother, father, and clanmates telling him that there was nothing he could do. Or worse, asking him why hadn't he saved the kit? He licked it forcefully, trying to pour life into it's tiny body. After a few minutes, the kit stirred and roared up at him. It wasn't a real roar, but it was the closest a newborn kit had ever done.

Stripepaw purred, "You shouldn't have been licking the poor thing so hard. That kit meowed at you so loud it sounded like a Tigerclan cat." Her eyes shone with amusement and tossed a piece of moss at him. Even though she had been his apprentice for three moons, they acted as though they had been medicine cats together forever. They always joked and play fought, with Ivycloud going easy on her of course.

Cherrytail looked up at her new kits. "They are beautiful." She breathed. Ivycloud didn't move, so Stripepaw lifted the kit and set it in front of its mother.

"A beautiful she-cat!" Stripepaw purred and touched noses with the kit, making it yowl at her. "Look! I think the little one hates medicine cats!" She exclaimed. "You will learn to love us. If you go on to be a great warrior, you will eventually come whimpering into our den and ask to take a little thorn out of your pad!" Ivycloud didn't hear a single word she said. He kept thinking about how forcefully that kit had yelled at him. Even with a weak body no kit should have been able to be _that_ loud. He was sure it was a sign from Starclan. _  
_

He got up, congratulated Cherrytail with her three kits, and left the den. Stripepaw followed him after giving the exhausted queen her two others. Before they got all the way out of the den, Thorntooth stopped them. "How is she? How many kits are there? What colors are their pelts? How many she-cats and toms? What-" Ivycloud shut him up with a flick of his tail. Thorntooth being Cherrytail's mate, he was bound to ask alot of questions.

Stripepaw shouldered her way in front of Ivycloud. "Um, let me think, she's fine, three, you can see for yourself, and two she-cats and one tom." She puffed out her chest like she was proud of remembering all of the questions he had asked. They stepped aside and Thorntooth bounded inside the den. "I'll bring Cherrytail some herbs to help her milk flow tomorrow, Ok?"

"Sure." Was all Ivycloud said. He trotted over to the freshkill pile and picked out a plump mouse. Settling down to eat he heard a raspy mew behind him.

"You should be getting Cherrytail the nicest piece of freshkill there is on that pile young un." Looking behind him be saw Spottedpelt, an elder, wobbling over to him. He flopped down and took a bite out of Ivycloud's mouse.

"Hey! I would have gotten you something if you wanted it!"

"Nah, I just wanted to taste!" He said purring with amusement.

Lying in his bed, Ivycloud thought about that kit, who had been named Tigerkit, after the way she had yowled at both Stripepaw and him. He was sure that her life was a sign from Starclan. "Ill ask them tonight." He whispered.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 1**

"Rah!" Whitekit batted the moss ball back to her sister, Tigerkit. Their brother, Branchkit, who was a spitting image of their father was sleeping in the far side of the nursery. Tigerkit, who was smaller and weaker than her siblings, couldn't jump as high as her siblings so Whitekit hit it back to her low to the ground. Whitekit threw it a bit too high and her sister had to reach with her claws just to touch it. Her claws snagged on a piece which made her yelp with pain when it jerked her paw back.

"Ow." Her sister complained with a pained expression on her face.

"I thought I told you never to use your claws unless you are throwing it into the air! Last time I saw someone do that was Stripepaw, who sprained her leg from it. She couldn't go anywhere and all she could do was sort leaves!" Whitekit walked outside to her mother who was basking in the sunlight. "Cherrytail, Tigerkit hurt her paw. We were playing 'Catch the Moss' when her claws snagged on it."

Cherrytail got up, sighing, and pushed her way inside the small den. "Let me see your paw little one." She meowed gently. Tigerkit held out her paw so their mother could examine it. "Oh, it's just fine." She said when her tail tip brushed over it and Tigerkit yelped. "You know, a story might just make it better." Cherrytail purred as her daughters pushed each other to sit in front of her. "This story, is when you three were born. I don't know much about you being born Whitekit, but Stripepaw told me about you being born Tigerkit."

"Why don't you know about us being born? Weren't you there?" Whitekit asked.

"Well, I was really tired and wasn't listening. I was trying to visualize what my beautiful kits would look like." She said purring. "Now, back to the story. When you were born, Tigerkit, Ivycloud was in charge of warming you up and getting you dry. He told Stripepaw that you might not make it because you weren't breathing and you were very weak. Right as he thought you were dead, you roared at him like a Tigerclan cat. He said that he had never heard a little kit be that loud! And when Stripepaw went to pick you up to bring you over to me, you roared at her too! She told me she thought you hate medicine cats and then told you that when you become a great warrior, you will go whimpering into her den and ask for her to pull out a little thorn in your pad! Can you believe it?" Her two little kits were watching bright eyed. They both purred with amusement.

"Ha! When I'm a big brave warrior,_ I_ wont go crying into the medicine cat's den because of a little thorn! I will be the greatest warrior there ever is!" Whitekit stood and swiped at an invisible enemy. She bounced around the den pretending to defeat an enemy clan all by herself. As her sister watched bright eyed, Whitekit did a move the apprentices had done. She balanced on her back paws while swiping continuously with her front. Using her tail to help balance herself she did the move perfectly.

"Wow. That's a hard move to master. How long have you been practicing?" Her fathers voice made her jump a little and trip on her own tail.

"Heh, A little. I saw Shadowpaw practice it after his training with Willowpelt." She purred when Thorntooth looked surprised. It was hard to please him and even harder to get a praise.

"You will make a fine warrior some day." Their deputy, Nighthaven Thorntooth for a hunting patrol from outside of the den. "Coming!" Thorntooth turned back to his kits. "Keep practicing those moves. After hunting I might show you how to do the hunting crouch. And for Starclan's sake, wake that sleeping log!" He jerked his tail at their brother as he left.

"Kay!" Tigerkit jumped up and hopped over to her bigger brother. She stopped and hunched down, wiggling her hindquarters. Pushing off, she landed on her brother making him yowl and squirm under his sister's grasp.

"A badger's got me! A fox or _something_ has me!" Tigerkit's high pitched purring made Branchkit stop thrashing and look up. He growled and pushed his sister off of him. "Why did you wake me up?!"

"Cause. Thorntooth told us to." Whitekit winked at her brother and flicked her tail, turning away from him. She trotted up to her mother. "Cherrytail, can I go outside and ask the apprentices to teach me the hunter's crouch? Please!"

"Oh I suppose it wont hurt for you to start learning early. Go ahead but you have to take any of your den mates if they want to come."

"Yes!" She leaped up and bounded out of the nursery before anyone asked her to come along. _They can follow if they wanna._ She thought. She was making her way to the apprentice's den when Ivycloud started to walk towards her with a glare in his eye.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

**I think I have captured a kit's outgoing behavior... What do you think? Anyway, sorry this chapter took so long, I couldn't come up with a name for Branchkit. My friend named him for me :) Thanks for the help Madi! So if you like the series so far, favorite or follow or just plain write a review sayin you like it! I don't care how you express your feelings just do it! Tell me how you feel about the story and you can even tell me what i did wrong. :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 2**

Whitekit slid to a stop and cocked her head to the side. Ivycloud was still strutting towards her when Lionstar called for a clan meeting from the highrock. "Let all cats old enough to catch their own prey, join here, beneath the highrock!" Ivycloud turned his head, looking cross. He looked back at her but turned to sit below their leader. "As you all know, there has been an attack on Thunderclan by the foxes." Hisses of disapproval echoed throughout the camp. "We have agreed to leave them alone before, just because they have not gone farther than near our border and they had pups, but recently, two of our own apprentices, Brackenpaw and Mosspaw were injured by them. Brackenpaw was killed just before help arrived. Mosspaw is in terrible shape and might not recover."

Nighthaven choked out a small sob for her two kits. Brackenpaw, a big and burly tom with light brown stripes along his dark brown body must have been trying to protect his smaller, sleeker sister. Mosspaw had a slender body with black stripes along her almost golden pelt. "Lets all have this small moment of silence to send prayers to Starclan to save this little apprentice."

Whitekit had sneaked a look at her in the medicine cat's den and saw not a she-cat who often played with her, but a small cat with cuts, scrapes, and bites all over her almost furless body. She never got to see Brackenpaw's body before he was buried, because the elders and warriors didn't want the parents to have a mangled body as their last memory of their son.

Those who were closest to him sat vigil beside the beechnut tree where he was buried. It was a sad night and morning for the camp. No cat was basking in the sunlight or pouncing around, practicing battle moves. The whole camp was quiet. Not even the birds sang like they knew what had happened. Only a lazy bee made noise. It constant buzzing ringing through out camp.

Tigerkit bundling into her jerked her back into the present. Her sister was as joyful as ever and neatly bounced around Whitekit. Branchkit walked more calmly out of the den and sat next to his sisters. "So what we just sittin around here for? Lets go play!" Tigerkit's mew was unusually loud in the silent camp. Branchkit hissed at Tigerkit, making her stumble and fall in the dust. She sat up when every head turned towards them.

"Way to go Bouncy Tail. Now everyone is mad at us." Whitekit scolded her for not watching others around her. It was Cherrytail's first rule to becoming a great warrior; to listen and watch others around you. If they are doing something, you either counter it or do it too. Cherrytail had all sorts of rules about becoming a great warrior. Most of it meant they had to master it during apprenticeship.

One of her rules is that before you can become a warrior, you had to be able to jump all the way from the ground to the lowest branch on the tree she and Thorntooth had caught their first mouse at. Most of her lovey-dovey stuff was part of her rules. Bleh! Who wants to be able to do something where some cat had made googley eyes at each other.

Whitekit flicked her tail, becoming agitated by remembering all of the stuff she had to do before her mother would ever dream about letting her move on to be a warrior. She and her littermates had whined to their father, but Thorntooth thought it was a good idea as well.

Looking up after noticing she was staring at her paws, Whitekit saw Nighthaven and her mate, Goldentail laying down with their heads pressed together. Nighthaven's claws were unsheathed and making deep scores along the ground and Goldentail was so still he looked like he was dead. They were an odd pair; Nighthaven calm and serious and Goldentail skittish and a complete mousebrain. He had always bounced around trying to make his clan mates laugh but he would leap about 10 feet if he heard a twig snap. Nighthaven had always been annoyed by the golden warrior, but somehow they made a good couple.

Whitekit stood after the meeting had been released and padded over to the two grieving parents. "Um, I'm sorry about what happened with Brackenpaw and Mosspaw. Brackenpaw wasn't mean to me, but we never really hung out; he was always on a patrol or out hunting. Mosspaw is like an older sister to me; she always showed me battle moves she learned or helped me with the hunting crouch. She even let me eat with her once!" They looked up, eyes dull. Whitekit licked the tops of their heads and strode off, moving to the freshkill pile.

Finding the biggest squirrel she could manage to carry, she tried not to drag it through the dirt, but it didn't work as she brought it over to Nighthaven and Goldentail. Squirrel was both of their favorites as she remembered them sharing one several times. She left it at their feet, and turned to the nursery where Branchkit and Tigerkit were most likely settling down for their nap.

She was half way there when she saw Ivycloud bounding over to her. "Uh, hi Ivycl-" He picked her up by the scruff without even stopping and he turned and ran out of the gorse tunnel.

* * *

**Author's Notes**

**Welp that was a sad chapter hu? Poor Mosspaw. Anyways DUNDUNDUUUUN Ivycloud has kidnapped the little kit and taken her out of camp! What next? :] Cliff Hanger!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 3**

Whitekit couldn't see where they were going. Everything was rushing by too fast for her to tell. Ivycloud turned and swerved so many times, she couldn't even tell what direction he was running in. "I-Ivycloud?! Where are you taking me?" If he heard her, he didn't answer. She could hear yowling in the distance; her mother, Thorntooth, and others who she couldn't identify with the wind howling into her ears. Ivycloud's head was darting around so wildly, she kept hitting the trees as they rush past. "Iv- Yeeeoowr!"

At last Ivycloud slowed to a stop, but she smelled no scents of her clan. Ivycloud set her onto the ground, eyes darting and ears flicking crazily. His eyes were narrowed to slits as his claws slowly slid out of their sheath. "Now, you listen here _kit_." He spat out the last word like it was cursed and frowned upon. "You _will_ listen to me or I _will_ kill you. Got it?"

Whitekit flinched and cowered away but nodded. She was afraid of how ragged and short his breaths were. He looked just like Grassbelly had when he was terribly sick. Grassbelly had been her favorite elder but one day he got very ill. She was with him when he died. He had drawn in a huge ragged breath, coughed, then lay still. His image had frightened her when she was little, and it still did. His dull, lifeless eyes. His mouth hung open with a thin trail of drool mixed with blood trickled out.

She wanted to call for her father. He could beat up this bully and take her back home. But she knew it was pointless. They were far from the camp and even if she did call Ivycloud would kill her. She not only believed him, she knew he wanted to. Whitekit saw the way his eyes gleamed with murder. The way his tail flicked back and forth angrily.

"Now. I will tell you my plan. I want to kill that little sister of yours. From the moment of birth, i knew she was in a prophecy. I am going to kill her and then I will be a part of it!" He threw his head back with a mreow of laughter. He then fixed his eyes on her, "And, you will be a part of it. You will have Tigerkit sneak out with you one night and bring her back to this spot where I will taint the grass with her blood!" Whitekit watched wide eyed as he leaped around, bouncing on and over tree roots.

"Now go back to the camp. Follow my sent trail and it will take you straight there. Don't worry i didn't zig-zag with the path. Oh wait, that's not why you are worrying isn't it?Are you scared to find your way back because your nose isn't good enough to smell a sent trail yet? Well, just try or you will be lost in the woods until you _die_." Ivycloud turned and seemed to melt into the shadows. Whitekit just stood there for a heartbeat. She didn't know what to do.

Whitekit shivered, flattening herself to the ground. Her heart told her she needed to get up and run as fast as she could back to camp. Her body told her otherwise. She stayed there until the sun went down. Whitekit had curled up against the roots of an old oak tree's roots when it got cold. It was long after sundown when she heard paw steps, and she pressed herself against the roots as far and as flat as she could.

Whitekit was sure it was Ivycloud. He had changed his mind. He had come back to kill her! As her mind raced of all of the things Ivycloud could possibly do to her, the paw steps stopped. _No! Ivycloud knows i'm here! Oh please Starclan! Don't let him kill me! Ivycloud-_

"Whitekit? Whitekit are you here?" Her fathers voice stopped all of the thoughts of Ivycloud killing her. She stood and threw herself in the direction of her father's voice.

"Thorntooth!" She squealed in delight as her face and front paws hit the course fur of her father. A surprised squeak left Thorntooth's mouth as his daughter barreled into him. "I was so scared!"

"We looked for you everywhere! Everyone in the whole clan was out searching. We lost Ivycloud's sent trail after he ran through a river. I'm so glad I found you." He gave Whitekit's head comforting licks.

He was rougher than Cherrytail, but it was nice for her father to groom her. He never did anything like this. Mostly he just liked teaching his kits battle moves or playing the part of the badger in their games. They stood their for a few heartbeats, snuggling in each others' warmth. "Come on. Lets get back to camp. Every single cat , young and old, is worried about you."

* * *

**Author's Notes**

**Im soo sorry this took so long! i just got off of Fanfiction for a while after watching Soul Eater and needing to read the manga :P Anyways comment about anything i did (correct or wrong) :) i always appreciate the feedback!**


End file.
